Roasted Duck Breasts over Wild Rice with Pomegranate-Orange Sauce

duck...duck...food!

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm focusing on pomegranates and Valentine's day with this series of red recipes. How appropriate that color falls at this time! Last night I made a dinner worthy of any date night and perfect for Saturday. It's a meal that will impress, but really was quite easy to make. The hardest part is waiting for the duck to roast, it smells so good!

This recipe was inspired by duck a l'orange, a classic French dish that pairs roasted duck with an orange sauce. My sauce not only contains orange juice and zest, but also pomegranate juice and molasses. Pomegranate molasses can be found at specialty stores (try Jungle Jim's) or you can make your own (follow this recipe). If you want to impress your Valentine's Day date don't go out to dinner, make it! Here's how...

Ingredients - Serves 2
2 Duck Breasts (1/2 lb. each)
Kosher Salt
Black Pepper
1/2 C Pomegranate Juice
1 Orange, zest & juice
2 T Pomegranate Molasses
2 T Red Wine Vinegar
1/2 T Brown Sugar
1 tsp. Fresh Thyme, chopped
To Serve: Wild Rice and Pomegranate Seeds

Directions
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. We are roasting this duck low and slow!

Pat the duck breasts dry with paper towels. Using a sharp knife, score the skin and fat side in a crosshatch pattern, making the cuts about 1/2 inch apart. Be careful not to cut into the breast meat. Season the breasts well with salt and pepper.

Heat a large cast iron skillet over med-high. Sear the breasts skin and fat side down, about 6 minutes. Remove the breasts from the pan. Reserve or discard the fat. Wipe out the skillet and place the duck, skin side up, back into it. Put the skillet into the preheated oven to roast for 35-40 minutes. Or, until the duck registers at 145-150 degrees on a digital read thermometer. Once cooked, remove to a cutting board, rest for about 5 minutes, and then cut into thin slices.

As the duck is roasting, make the wild rice and sauce. For the rice: cook to package directions and keep warm. For the sauce: combine the pomegranate and orange juice, zest, molasses, vinegar, brown sugar, thyme, and 1 tsp. salt in a small sauce pan. Heat to a boil and reduce by 2/3, about 15 minutes. The sauce will be think and syrupy. Keep warm.

Plate the sliced duck over a bed of wild rice. Pour the sauce over the top and around the sides of the dish. Top with fresh pomegranate seeds. Valentine's Day dinner never looked so good. Enjoy!